In Pieces
by Zuimi
Summary: The secret kisses they shared, but never discussed, were breathtaking. Amazing. Awe-inducing. But they go further, and their partnership hangs by a fragile thread, ready to break, as they struggle to keep each other close. Language and references to sexual interaction.
1. Where She Admits It

**In Pieces**

_By Zuimi_

**Chapter One:**

**Where She Admits It**

Liz was already curious the second she picked up her phone, hearing Maka's pleading voice to meet her at Death Café in approximately ten minutes… alone. Pulling on her clothes with haste, she was already 100% sure what this was going to be about. It wasn't going to be about a nerdy problem related to school or souls or fighting. Maka would call anybody else to talk about that. Today, in that café, Liz was going to be delivered some nice, hot, juicy gossip too serious for anyone else's ears save for hers. And she was absolutely ecstatic.

She pulled on a yellow tank top and black mid-shin leggings with yellow sandals. A genuinely nice outfit for a genuinely interesting day, she thought. But she immediately regretted looking so nice when she saw what Maka came to meet her in. Her blonde, petite friend showed up wearing gray gym shorts, and an old navy shirt from when she must've been in middle school. Her feet wore worn, plain white flip flops that slowly were slipping off her toes as she swung them rather miserably. Her hair was pulled into a very messy bun (she stopped wearing pigtails when she turned 18), and she hunched her back so she can rest her head on the table.

Maybe Liz misunderstood the kind of gossip she'd be hearing.

She slid into the booth across from Maka and said, "Hey, what's up?" She made sure her tone showed utmost concern. By the way things were looking, Maka was going to be a mess.

"Oh my god, Liz," Maka mumbled miserably. She lifted her head up from her arms, and one of her hands came up to partially cover her face. And good thing because Maka's face was ridden with evidence of lack of sleep and anxiety.

"Oh, god, what happened?" Liz reached over to grab Maka's other hand, coaxing her to spill the beans.

"Liz, I fucked up," Maka muttered, looking like she was about to cry. "I fucked up really, really bad. Oh my god, it was so bad." The following second was accompanied by several tears slipping out from underneath Maka's eyelid. They rolled down her cheek, and her entire face began to grow red with gloom.

Liz tightened her grip on Maka's hand for comfort, but the girl's shoulders were already shaking up a storm, "Don't cry. Oh, Maka, oh, please don't cry. Tell me what happened. Just tell me. It can't be as bad as you're making it sound."

"It can," Maka said through a sob. She sniffled, wiping her nose on the sleeve of her tee shirt.

"No, you always do this," Liz shook her head, trying to get her friend to look at her in the eye, "You're definitely overreacting. I'm sure we can think of a way to fix it. Tell me."

Maka wailed, "You're gonna be sooo disappointed!" Her puffy eyes closed, and when they opened, more tears sprang out to cover her face. And Liz was not going to lie, Maka was a really ugly crier. But that was not the issue. She simply wanted to calm Maka down enough for her to listen to the story about how Maka 'fucked up really,really bad'. I mean, how bad can a little nerdy bookworm fuck up?

"I'm not going to be disappointed," Liz promised.

But Maka insisted, "No, you really are."

Liz, at this point, rolled her eyes and sighed, "Well, you're going to have to tell me if you want my help about it."

Maka already knew this. She knew that she was too damn clueless about these kinds of things to help herself. Liz was experienced. She was the matchmaker and the love expert. And though Maka had read up on many subjects, Liz was genius in certain areas of knowledge pertaining to certain emotions while she found herself at life's mercy.

"Don't tell anyone, though," Maka started to wipe the tears in her eyes and breathe more evenly, "I mean… don't tell Black Star."

Liz gave her friend a small smile, "What do you think I am? An idiot?"

Maka chuckled, "You have a point."

"So," Liz rested her head on top of her arm, similar to Maka, "From the beginning. Tell me everything. Don't leave out any details. I want you to narrate your every breath."

Maka chuckled once again and said, "Well, I'll try."

"Go on!"

"Okay," Maka took a deep breath, "You know how my birthday was last week?"

"Yeah…"

"And do you remember what you got me?"

"Yeah, that black thong!" Liz laughed as she said this.

"Well, I thought it would be nice to wear it and then things got crazy and he was, he was- oh my god, I can't believe I did that! I can't believe it! Shit, I fucked up." Maka confided in her and then burst back into tears.

Liz's eyes widened immensely. Had her little nerd… had she…?

"Did you-?" Liz started to say her thoughts, but Maka quickly slapped her hand over Liz's mouth.

"Wait," Maka said, suddenly energetic, "Wait, I forgot to start at the beginning!"

"Wait, but let me ask you-!"

"No! Nope!" Maka objected. "From the beginning!"

"Maka-!" Liz almost whined.

"It was three weeks ago," Maka began, "when I first kissed Soul."

Liz, forgetting about her prior distress, clapped her hands and squealed, "Yes! I am not disappointed! Not even close!"

"No!" Maka slapped her hand over her friend's lips once again and said, "Not done yet."

"I kissed him seven times," Maka admitted uneasily, biting her lip.

"I am still not disappointed!" Liz replied enthusiastically. She was absolutely and completely surprised that she had not known that her two friends, whom she desperately wanted together for God knows how long, had been smoochin' like mad behind her back. But Maka's uneasiness rubbed off on her. There was catch somewhere, and they were going to get to it.

"I mean, yeah, I didn't mind the kisses. Kind of liked 'em…" Maka blushed slightly and a miniscule smile appeared on her mouth. The look did not match her still-puffy eyes, but Liz saw Maka's small shred of happiness as adorable.

"How did it even start?" Liz interrogated, completely intrigued with Maka's information.

"The first one," Maka said, "was after I got out of the hospital for my shoulder wound a while ago. Remember?"

"Yeah, yeah," Liz nodded. "Go on."

"And I came back home, and he was there," she told Liz, "And we talked. He said he was glad that I was back and not really that hurt. And he said some lame joke, and we laughed. And he said to be more careful, like he always does when I got hurt… and he planted one on me."

"Maka, that is so vague!"

"Those are a lot of details for three weeks ago, Liz!"

"No, but 'planted one on me' doesn't really help me visualize the scene really well in my head!"

Maka huffed, "Fine! It was no big deal. A peck. Barely. Like, a touch. A brush. But it still caught me really off guard. And he just walked away! Like he didn't steal my first kiss!"

"Aw!" Liz squealed, "It was your first kiss! Oh my god, that's right!"

"Shut up!" Maka said. But she was glad she was telling Liz this. Usually, she'd keep secrets _away _ from Liz, because she'd always made such a big deal about everything. Usually, she'd run to her long-time best friend Tsubaki. But she felt like Tsubaki seemed to be more for serious issues, and Liz was for love and relationship advice. And she was right.

"And?"

"And we didn't say anything after it," Maka continued, "We just acted normally."

"What?!"

"Until a few days later, after one of our battles," Maka shifted in her seat, fixing her pants, "And it was a really hard fight. I told you about it remember? With the dude with the ax?"

"Yeah."  
"And I was kinda bruised?"

"A little bit more than kinda."

"Yeah. So, right after he ate the thing's soul, he went up to me, and he kissed me again," Maka looked away because she reddened once again. Liz smirked because it didn't take a genius to figure out how much Maka had loved that kiss.

"How was this one?"

Maka reddened again and answered, "It was longer. Like at least 10 seconds."

"Ooooh!" Liz laughed lightly, "And then?"

"And then nothing… like last time," she said. "And we didn't talk about it. Ever."

Liz frowned, "Well, why the hell not?"

Before Maka could answer, a girl leaned over the front counter and asked, "Would you two like anything?"

Liz ordered a cup of coffee, but Maka needed to let go a little bit. She ordered a chocolate smoothie with cinnamon and a piece of strawberry cake. The girl nodded and turned to give their orders to the barista/cook in the back.

"The next time he kissed me was after- I mean, this time _I _kissed _him_…" Maka shook her mind to focus once again on what she was trying to say. "He came back from a day of playing video games with Black Star, mumbling about how he hates him and how Black Star's such an idiot. And he sits next to me on the couch and I turn towards him, expecting him to rant, but he shut up. And then I got closer. And I kissed him. And he let me! For probably 10 seconds like last time."

"And you still didn't talk about it afterward?" Liz asked. Maka nodded.

"And we didn't talk about it after we kissed while we watched Inception. Or when we made out after I bought a new perfume. Or when we fell on top each other during training and made out again. Or the time after when I was busy doing homework all day, and the bored baby that he was flipped me towards him and…" Maka stopped herself, blushing bright red when she realized that she was saying all of this _out loud_… _to a real person_! She mumbled, "Too many details."

Liz shook her head, "And this all happened…"

"Within two weeks… before my birthday…"

Liz analyzed the situation, "So you liked the kisses… a lot. But you're not sure if… he meant it in the way you did?"

Maka, not saying a word, nodded and grunted an approving sound.

Liz sat back in her booth, "Damn… the situation sucks, but there's a really simple solution: just talk to him about it. I mean, sugarcoating it doesn't seem fair, so I'm giving it to you straight. You're going to have to have a hella awkward conversation about your little lip games."

"I wish it was just about that but…" Maka looked away, in shame, "On my birthday, after the party…"

"Oh…! You totally put on your fucking birthday suit and let him fuck your brains out. Well, shit, I thought it was gonna take a lot longer for you guys to work up the guts to do that!" Liz guessed. Rather loudly. In a public place. And Maka wanted to die even more. Hearing it from another person… in that crude manner…

"Ugh… don't say it like that…"Maka said. But the longer she thought about it, the more she wanted to curl up into a small ball, never to see sunlight again. She remembered how Soul pulled out and collapsed next to her, both feeling like infinity before reality caught up to them. His smile slowly faded, and he got up abruptly. She saw him discard of the condom. He pulled on his boxers and the rest of his clothes without anything to say to her. The whole time, she just watched him. Lying there, naked, and by then, embarrassed out of her mind. He left her room muttering a pathetic good night. He left her there. And they were both virgins before! How did he not see what was wrong with it? How did he walk away so casually when she was so in love with him?

Tears ran down her cheeks once again. Maka's shoulders were shaking, breath becoming uneven. Some saliva rolled down her chin as she began to weep once again. She buried her face in her arms to try to hide. Hide from everything altogether. There were no sounds coming from their table except for Maka's occasional staggered breath followed by a jolt of her shoulders.

The girl from behind the counter set down Liz's cup of coffee and Maka's drink and cake. She whispered, "I hope you guys enjoy… Feel better."

Liz said thanks in reply but then turned to Maka, "Okay, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have put it like that."

A muffled wail that Liz deciphered as 'It's not you' came from Maka. Liz became occupied with her coffee for a while before she couldn't bear to hear another sob from her friend.

She reached across the table and held Maka's arm, "Let it out. I'll listen. Just let it out."

Maka didn't lift her face from her arms, so her rant was muffled, "I was a virgin! And so was he! And yet he just put on his clothes and left! And I just lied there on my bed, embarrassed, and feeling just infiltrated emotionally and physically. Because…" Maka lifted her head and said with confidence, "Because I love him so much. I love him so much it doesn't feel like it could be real. He's my best friend and my partner, and I _had_ to start making out with him. And I had sex with him. We haven't talked since then, Liz. For a week! I ruined our friendship and our partnership!"

"Maka…"

"And what if he doesn't love me?" Maka bursted into even more tears, "I've tried so hard to not care this past week… to say it'll be better. I tried to say that these feelings are stupid but… I can't. I cracked."

"… and now you're here…" Liz said, "Talking to me so I can help you fix it."

Her friend nodded and said, "I used to not care. Hell, I used to not even believe in love. But look what it made me go out and do!"

Liz got up from her seat to go sit on Maka's booth. She hugs her, pushing Maka's head onto her shoulder. And Maka, hugs her even tighter. She cries on the shoulder offered to her while Liz whispers into her ear, "Love is weird. And it's gonna fuck you over. But we know Soul. And I know that he cares about you. He must be nervous, that's all. He might be thinking the same exact things you are now!"

Maka calmed down significantly with a person to wrap her desperate arms around. She felt the warmth another human could provide that she had lacked for a week. For a whole damn fucking shit-ass week.

_**Author's note:**_

_**Thanks you so much for reading the fanfic! I thank in advance for anyone who might favorite/follow/or review! And all reviews are much appreciated, so please. I hope you liked the first chapter! My plan for the story is to make it three chapters long – I hope you'll read those too. I don't own Soul Eater, which should be obvious.**_

_**Some more information: Maka just turned 19. Soul's 19, as well. Liz is around 20-21. Everyone else's age is in that zone.**_

_**-Zu**_


	2. Where He Admits It

**In Pieces**

_By Zuimi_

**Chapter Two:**

**Where He Admits It**

The walk back to her stuffy apartment was longer than the one it took to arrive at the café. Maka dragged her feet across the sidewalk, not any more motivated to face her partner back in their home after Liz's talk. Of course, she was incredibly glad to tell someone her feelings – someone who knew what to say. Liz had helped her sort out her mind. Before the conversation over the used table and drinks, her mind was a paper written by a fifth grader with so many typos, it hurt to look at. Liz fixed the typos, but Maka had to present it to the class. She had to make sense of her emotions, and though she dreaded it so much, she needed to talk to Soul.

Just a month ago, she was able to walk down the streets of her hometown knowing exactly what was going on in her life. She knew that she needed to train to be the best. She knew that that day she would cook a great dinner, and that the next day, Soul would cook one too. She knew what groceries she needed to buy and what she wanted to wear. Walking down the street now, Maka was lost. Almost every part of her daily agenda involved talking, agreeing, touching, holding, wielding, or in the very least, being around Soul. And she ruined it. She was kissed by the love of her life, and it destroyed her.

She could drag her feet to slow down her pace all she wanted, but Maka had to get to her apartment sometime. And since she was only a few yards away from the cement steps and iron black railing which led to the front door of their apartment complex, that 'sometime' was soon. And the next thing she knew, she was standing in front of the door to their living room, fumbling for the key.

And one could only imagine the pain that stung her heart when the first thing that met her eyes was the sight of her partner enjoying some television in a tee shirt and shorts. His face was revoltingly relaxed without a care in the world, and she hated him for it. They haven't said a word to each other since the… incident. And it was so unlike them. It was so unlike him. Usually, he would love to tease her, play with her, insult her jokingly. And when she wasn't feeling too hot, he would hug her, make her tea, offer her his shoulder, and give her a massage. And when she was downright depressed, she was all that mattered to him.

Her plan was to safely make it into her bedroom without having to face the reality of the situation. She knew what Liz said about talking to him was true, but it didn't have to be today. Hell, it didn't have to be this week. But it hurt her so much to not talk to him. Sure, he was obsessed with keeping up an illusion of him being chill and cool all the time, and sometimes he was, but she knew that he cared for her more than words can describe. And she cared for him. So why was he doing this? Why did he fuck her senseless and leave her alone in her room the night of her nineteenth birthday? The Soul she knew would cuddle up next to her, crack a joke about it, and fall asleep with her in his arms. Or he would pat her head and compliment her casually. Or he would say something affectionate. Or _anything_ else except for what he chose to do.

But there he was, on that same damn couch they used to cuddle, laugh at, tease each other, pretending that there was nothing wrong. She shook off her flip flops near his sneakers and started walking to her room.

"Hey."

Her feet halted. She turned toward her weapon. A week of silence and then comes the mediocre 'hey'. ' 'Hey' to you too, asshole' she thought. But she would never say it because her throat closed up so much she almost gasped when she took her next breath. She looked up at him, and she caught his eyes. Those eyes used to be a dusty, caring red. Or maybe she just morphed them into that because what she saw now was nowhere near caring. It was a dull, bored red. But his pupil seemed so sharp, so piercing. It bore a hole through her skull. Or maybe it was just the headache that she was starting to get. For a split second, she wanted to holler all the things she had on her mind. She suddenly felt the urge to talk about everything, but she stopped herself. She gulped down her anger, her sadness, her grief, the entirety of her emotions and said, "Um… hi."

After that, his head turned back to the colors on the screen, glued to them again. As for Maka, she continued walking to her room, where she shut the door and cried softly into her pillow.

He was the biggest asshole Death City has ever seen. No, he was the biggest asshole that ever dared to set foot on a planet that resided in their universe. And he was an asshole because the words (or the lack of them) that spilled out of his mouth were utter and complete shit. 'Hey'? 'Hey'?! Was he serious? He had crumbled their friendship and partnership and everything that they may have become and all he could say was 'Hey'. He ruined his first time and hers. And by God, did he regret it.

He regretted kissing her the first time, when she came home from the hospital. But he loved it. And he loved her. And he couldn't time travel. He regretted all the kisses, but he loved each and every millisecond of each one. And what killed him the most was that he didn't even know if she felt the same. I mean, he could obviously tell she liked them. But did she like him? He should've said it after the first kiss. He should've just done it and said he loved her. But now he was stuck in this limbo where he was unsure if she was in it because she loved him or loved his lips. She had probably interpreted his kisses as a 'friends with benefits' thing. Maybe it didn't bother him as much as it should've because at least it was better than nothing.

But the day he broke it all plays before his head on repeat. He remembered that they just got home from the party. And all of the sudden, Maka crashed her lips on his in a vicious, needy manner. And after that, lust took over. Everything was passionate: the way they kissed, the way they stripped, the way they fell on her bed, the way they…

He couldn't bring himself to think about it positively, though. He ruined it all that night, just because he was so afraid that he was going to let it slip. He thought he'd let the words 'I'm in love with you' slips past his lips into her ears and brain. He thought that would end it all. His efforts to avoid ending it all ended it all. And he remembered whispering the words 'Good night' half-heartedly to her. How could he have done that? That was the single, most uncool move he ever made. All to protect his pride and his secret.

He cursed under his breath. Soul considered walking to Maka's room, opening the door, sitting on her bed, staring her in the eyes, confessing, apologizing, apologizing again, and then once more. He considered telling her everything, and then he shut the idea out.

He could not think about anything else. He was slowly becoming insane. Insane because of that or stir crazy since he barely left the house in the past week. Thinking about it, Soul realized he had barely eaten anything since her birthday. He got up to go wash his face in the bathroom. He let the cool tap water cleanse his pores and bring him to an alert state before shutting it off and wiping himself with a towel. He looked up to see someone vaguely resembling himself in the mirror with knotted, snowy hair and dark circles under his eyes. He had continued to shave regularly, so Maka wouldn't get too suspicious, but he looked stressed. He seriously began to recall what he'd eaten in the past week: maybe a few crackers with peanut butter… maybe a bowl of cereal two days ago. He definitely remembers eating toast with butter for breakfast yesterday. But overall, he was accidentally starving himself out. And the worst thing was his incredibly aching stomach and his extreme lack of appetite.

He needed help. He needed to tell someone. Black Star? Good joke, Soul. Kid? What would he have to say about it? Tsubaki? No, he would have to see Black Star if he was going to visit her, and then there would be a lot of question avoiding. Patty? Another good joke. Liz? Hell, no – wait, actually Liz was known to be the matchmaker. After all, she did get a few great couples together while they were in high school. Not that he wanted a matchmaker, but he needed someone with common sense and good advice. A moment later of thinking over his decision, he was changing into jeans, a cooler tee shirt, and pulling on his sneakers. Before he knew it, he was down the block on his orange motorcycle.

He would be lying if he said he never talked to Liz before. They talked all the time, whether it was with their friends in a group conversation or it was just them (usually discussing topics like music, movies, and unpopular opinions about pop culture in general). But this was his first time talking to her about something with substance, with a piece of his heart, or better yet, his soul.

All of this was on his mind the moment before he knocked on the front doors of the Gallows Mansion. Kid was the one to open the door, as he should've expected, since it was Kid's house originally.

"Good afternoon, Soul," Kid greeted, really quite surprised to see his white haired friend arrive unannounced, "Do you need anything?"

"Hey, Kid," Soul greeted back then answered the question, "Yeah. Um, is Liz home?"

Kid was really confused at this point. For one, Soul wasn't one to show up anywhere to interact with people unless pushed or with Maka. Also, he wasn't aware Soul was such good friends with Liz. He stammered, "O-oh, um… o-okay."

Soul grinned his usual smile, "Don't worry, I'm not messin' with your girl." He pat Kid's back fairly heartily while entering the mansion. He headed for Liz's room while caught-off-guard Kid insisted that Liz was not 'his girl' with a reddening face.

When Soul got to the eloquent door with an extravagant carving of Liz's full name in script, he knocked hesitantly, nervously fiddling with his thumbs. He was so not cool. What proof did he have that Liz wouldn't send him out laughing at him? I mean, she cared a lot for Maka, so she should listen to him.

"What is it now, Ki-?" Liz stopped herself when she noticed the jeans and tee combo… and the stark white hair. She put her hand on her hip, raised an eyebrow, and said, "And what can I do for you?"

"I messed up and need your advice," He said in a hushed voice so Kid wouldn't be able to overhear him on the off chance that he would find Soul's struggle amusing.

Liz smirked and gestured him to come inside. Her room was a lot more 'chill' than he expected it to be. Maybe he thought it'd be more girly or decorated. But besides some electric Christmas lights framing her headboard and an abundance of pictures of her with the gang, it was a very simple room. Of course, he wasn't looking at her closet, which he knew he would find hundreds of girlish, 'cute' clothes that Liz had meticulously picked out for herself over the years that she was using Kid's money.

Liz sat herself on the red colored sheets of her bed. Soul found himself sitting on a slightly bowl-shaped, white, fluffy armchair. He cleared his throat, "Okay, I really messed up, and the only reason I came to you for help is because I'm really, really desperate."

Liz nodded and smiled, thinking, 'Damn, right, you are.' She was thrilled that she was the one both Soul and Maka had confided in to resolve the jumble of utter garbage they called a relationship. But it saddened her that Soul looked just as bad, if not worse, than Maka. He looked like he underslept, like Maka did, but he seemed to have an unhealthy glow to his skin. Maka's eyes had shown hurt, vulnerability, betrayal, and damage, but in Soul's, Liz saw immense guilt and pain.

"Okay, Soul, I'm just gonna go right out and say it, okay?" Liz honestly looked him in the eyes, "You look like Patty's origami giraffes after she's done beating it to a pulp."

Soul looked away, knowing that the stress in his head must be showing on the outside more than he thought.

Liz was very interested in how Soul might describe the series of events which Maka informed her of earlier. She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees, and said, "So tell me what happened."

"Don't laugh, don't tell anyone, and for Death's sake, _please_ help me out," Soul blinked a few times, wondering if he missed any other important points he should've included in his terms of agreement. He felt so uncool, but even more so just downright embarrassed.

"I'll do my best," She said smiling. It's true that she found it pretty funny seeing the 'cool' Soul Eater Evans begging for a shred of her mercy, but she did honestly care and want to help him with his problems.

He took a deep breath, "I'll say it all at once and I'm not gonna repeat it."

"Alright, alright," Liz agreed, "Just come out with it."

"I kissed Maka and I wanted to say I loved her but I was too pussy. So I just kissed her. And then we kept kissing randomly without discussing why, and I think she thought I just wanted to have a 'friends with benefits' thing. But I really don't because I really love her, but I could never say it because I thought it would ruin our partnership. Because I don't think she likes me back… I mean, in that way…" Soul took a breath before continuing, "And then, on her birthday, we did _it_, and I thought I was gonna accidentally confess so I left before I could because I really don't want to lose her. But instead, I made myself seem like an asshole and I lost her anyway. And we haven't talked since."

Liz was surprised how much quicker it was to get the whole story out of Soul than it was with Maka. But then again, she didn't ask Soul for the details. His testimony filled in the rest of the holes that she didn't understand. She now realized the misunderstanding from both sides. And she was a little excited that she was the only one who did. It made her just giddy thinking about the fact that both were madly in love with each other, both too scared to admit it. What made her even bubblier was the fact that she'd be a matchmaker to two of her best friends.

She was prepared to give him the already known 'you just need to talk' speech, but then Soul asked a more pressing question, "Liz, you've been talking to Maka… has she said anything?"

His crimson eyes, filled with pain, was more than she could bear. She didn't want to break her promise with Maka in which she said she wouldn't tell anybody the content of their chat. Liz takes her promises very seriously. But Maka never said not to mention the conversation in general…

Liz said, "You guys need to talk. Maka came to me just a few hours ago, actually. She told me everything. I never saw the girl cry harder." Realizing that the comment might just make Soul die, she added, "She told her side of the story, and I'm not going to tell you what exactly she said since I promised not to. But I swear, you guys simply need to talk about it."

Soul looked down to the hardwood floor. She knew that he already knew this, and, so, she offered a bit more to him, "Soul, I know how much you care for Maka, and now I know how much you _love_ her. Okay, okay, don't hit me, I know that sounded corny. Sit back down. Okay… But what I'm trying to say is that Maka knows you never meant to hurt her. She knows you're a good guy. And you mean so much to each other. You guys did fuck up a bit, but that will never overpower the years you guys were best friends."

Soul smirked. Liz was a damn good choice. He really needed that.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome, Romeo," Liz giggled when he snarled at the nickname.

"Not cool."

"You know what else isn't cool?" Liz didn't wait for him to answer, "Not eating. Yeah, I noticed. You're coming down to our kitchen, and I'm gonna whip you up something to eat."

Soul shook his head, "You really don't have to."

Liz chuckled, "Uh-huh, yes, I do. How will I know if you ate anything if I don't see it for myself?"

Liz grabbed his arm and dragged him towards the large kitchen towards the back of the house.

She shouted, "Patty! Paaattyyy!"

They heard a rapid pitter-patter of feet covered by socks hitting hardwood floors. From the second floor a high-pitched voice responded, "Cooooming!"

An excitable Patty practically bounced into the kitchen. She noticed Soul and squealed, "Oh my god, Soul, hi! Wow, you look like a train wreck! Haha!"

Liz wrapped her arms around her sister almost squeaking, "Aw, you're so cute!" Then she cleared her throat and said, "Okay, we're working hard tonight, Pats!"

Patty straightened up military-style immediately, "Sir, yes, sir!"

"Cook the chicken nuggets," Liz commanded playfully. "I'll wrestle with the mac n' cheese."

"Roger, that, sir!" Patty giggled, running to the cabinet.

The scene was so much alive than his life the past few days, Soul could barely hold in a grin or a chuckle. And with his mood improved, his appetite returned full force.

_**Author's Note**_

_**I hope you liked it! I literally am in lesbians with the Thompson sisters so I had to make a cute little scene with them. Please feel free to favorite/follow/ review the story. And if you don't already know, I love getting reviews. Feedback, please! There's only one more chapter till it's done! As you may have guessed by me having an account of , I do not own Soul Eater. I hope you decide to keep reading for the last chapter. Enjoy!**_

_**-Zu**_


	3. Finale

**In Pieces**

_By Zuimi_

**Chapter Three:**

**Finale**

The wind whipped her hair behind her, a strand of hair falling on her eye. She shook her head as an attempt to adjust it differently, but to no avail. The bulky motorcycle helmet had pressed her bangs in place, and if some strands got in the way of her vision, there was nothing she could do to fix it. Maka's arms loosely held Soul's waist, in order to maintain some balance on the orange motorcycle that sped forward.

She smiled a little while recalling the first time she hopped onto the motorcycle. Soul had challenged her by saying she would be 'too chicken' to go on. She crossed her arms, still gloved and cloaked by her mother's trench coat. She had yelled at him for talking like an idiot and threw a book, aiming for his head. He had dodged that time, hopping onto the vehicle. He pat the back seat with a smirk, daring her to go on. Her head set on protecting her pride, Maka had stomped to the motorbike, knowing that it was pretty dangerous. She climbed into the seat and was passed a helmet. She thought that it couldn't be nearly as bad as she was thinking. And then the bike lurched forward. She had yelped, and lunged to wrap her arms tightly around Soul. She remembered hearing his laughter and teases, but being too nervous to really pay attention. She didn't move from the position until they got to their destination.

Maka had long overcome that petty fear. She had clutched him so tightly those first few rides, and now, she was barely grabbing him. They were driving down the streets of Death City toward DWMA, where they both had agreed to train for a while. They hadn't trained in a week, and their next mission was in three days. Reluctantly, they pulled on proper clothes and dragged themselves to the school's training fields.

Maka had hoped that the ride would be longer, to prolong the inevitable interaction that was necessary when training. But soon enough, they had pulled the vehicle into a parking spot and started to walk up the main steps. They were approaching the fields. And then, they were there.

Maka had simply come in a tee shirt and gray shorts. Soul had come in a tee and basketball shorts. They were wearing their regular training hairdos: Maka's ponytail and Soul's hair tamed by a headband. But everything was off. Their entire synchronization was off. Their movements were off. Their thoughts were off.

They half-heartedly stretched separately. Maka started with reaching for her toes. She didn't face Soul. Her entire stretching and warm up process was spent avoiding his gaze, intentionally not doing the same exercises as him when he was doing them, and being very immature. She should be following Liz's advice and _talking_ to Soul, not completely avoiding him and any connection with him at all. But her personal distress seemed to overcome her need to fulfill her responsibilities. Confrontation could either fix this between them or further separate them. It was a risk she was willing to avoid taking. Confrontation also completely relied on trusting Soul to not be humiliated. And that trust hadn't exactly been concrete as of recent times.

It hurt her to face him when they both agreed silently that warm ups shouldn't take that long. It hurt her when he grabbed her hand and turned into the familiar scythe. It hurt her when she started to swing him around in different formations, knowing he was helping her the entire time. But she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and chose to forget their situation for the time being. Their mission was in three days, and they were a little out of shape. This wasn't just irresponsible, but dangerous. Their missions had begun to get increasingly more challenging since Maka was getting closer to the rank of a three-star meister. They couldn't be off during the battle. They needed to suck it up, and do what they do best.

She picked up her pace as she continued to walk through all the basic scythe attack moves. She swung him, feeling a jolt in her shoulder from doing the action unreasonably fast. When she made a little hop to change her footing, her knee popped a bit, making her wince. After that, she landed wrong, causing her left ankle to partially twist. Though it ached, she chose to ignore it and keep going. When she speared the scythe forward, the simple move, made recklessly, had pulled a muscle in her arm. The little mistakes and pains had continued for about 20 more minutes, where Maka had gone over her attacks and defenses. Then, she leaped up to practice a more upward-positioned move, but she felt her calf cramp up a bit. Her landing was less than perfect, and she tripped. Her hands had released the scythe on her way to the ground. The dirt met with her face in milliseconds, more specifically, her chin. The scythe was balanced wrong. It was too light, too heavy, too hot, too cold, too unstable, too stiff.

Soul transformed back into his human form and said, "Stop."

She gritted her teeth, angry that she wasn't being herself today. She ignored Soul, ignored the pain, and ignored her logical thought of taking a break. Maka grabbed Soul's hand, which insinuated that he should turn into a weapon, but he didn't.

She scowled at him, "Soul, transform."

"No."

She demanded with more anger, "Do it."

He spoke, "Why? I have better things to do than see you continue to hurt yourself."

She growled, "We have _three days_ to train for our next mission, and you're going to ignore that?"

"If you want us to do well in our mission," Soul interjected, grabbing Maka's arm when she attempted to turn away from him, "we're going to have to do more than just practice some stupid positions."

"Wha-?" Maka stopped herself. She shut up because she knew he was right. _Resonate_. They needed to _resonate_. They needed to open up their minds, thoughts, emotions to one another and truly connect in order to be a successful meister-weapon pair. They needed to do more than just talk. They needed to reach into each other's minds.

"Ready?" Soul reached for her hand, preparing to resonate. They'd try. But she knew they wouldn't be able to do it. They were too locked out from each other's worlds. They had isolated each other to such an extent, that the kind of connection they were about to attempt was out of the question. But they tried anyway.

The breeze around them kicked up into a wind as they said in unison, "Soul Resonance." For a moment, it was fine, but then the wind that swirled around them turned to face them. There was a small blast which resulted in both young adults to be pushed onto the ground. Soul had skid across the rough texture of the grass, causing his tee and shorts too be stained green. He landed on his rear, but his elbow also stung from the weight of his torso leaning on it during the skid. Maka wasn't as lucky. Her already skinned chin from the previous fall had taken another hit, but only on the right side. Her right cheek had also received some skinning, and her mouth was filled with dirt and grass blades. Her hands and knees had been shoved forcefully into the fairly rocky ground. A small but sharp pebble had broken the skin of her right knee, and she let out a loud swear word that morphed into a whimper. Blood began to ooze out of her cuts as Maka spit the dirt out of her mouth.

And that was when Maka completely lost it. It started with one tear, and then, she couldn't stop. Her sobs were forceful, causing her shoulders to shake violently with each wail, with each breath. Her face was red and wrinkled, and her tears streamed down her cheek, some easing their way into her mouth. And she tasted them. Tasted their saltiness. She attempted to calm down before any mucus built up in her nose, before Soul saw how utterly pathetic she looked, but it was far too late to stop.

Soul ran to his meister, examining her wounds first. But he knew that Maka wouldn't cry because of a few _miniscule_ scratches. But he didn't want to acknowledge _it_. Well, he did, but he was afraid and horribly anxious of her response to any of his explanations, to any of his confessions. He began tending to her wounds, dabbing his tee shirt to the cut on her right knee that was bleeding more than any other injury at the moment.

But she grabbed his arm, gulped down a sob to clear her voice and her throat, and said, "Why did you do it?"

He avoided her gaze, but answered, "Why _what_? Why did I kiss you the first time?" He took a breath, "Or do you mean, why did I never talk about it? Or, maybe even, why did I do _it_ with you and leave?"

Her breathing was embarrassingly staggered, and she constantly sniffled to not let any of her nasal goo be seen by Soul. She was aware of how her eyelashes were drenched by her tears, how her face was forming a ridiculously revolting frown, how saliva was pooling near her lip. She had never, in her entire life, cried this hard. In her head, maybe Maka visualized her talk with Soul being more 'chill'. Or maybe even angry. But not this. She pitied herself in this form. Her next words crawled out of her throat in an unstable voice, "E-everything."

Soul sighed. He hated seeing Maka like that. He hated seeing her so weak and vulnerable. This wasn't who she truly was, this was who he had broken her down to be. This was no one's fault but his own. And he could not express his regret enough. He took her smaller hands into his and said, "I-I'm sorry, I-!"

"What are you sorry for? Can you even say it?" Maka cried. She pulled her hands out of his, like they were poisonous, "Are you sorry for kissing me? Having sex with me? Or are you sorry that you left me in my room on my nineteenth birthday, all alone? Do you know how _humiliated_ I was? How _embarrassed_? How _ashamed_?"

"Oh, God, Maka," Soul brushed his hair back with his fingers, "I'm sorry because I'm a fucking idiot. I'm sorry that I was afraid."

"Afraid of what?" Maka barked through clenched teeth, "Afraid of what exactly? Afraid that the person you trust most would leave you and not talk to you after you fuck 'em?" Soul winced at her words. He was so fucking _uncool_. He was making his meister and best friend in the entire world cry because he was too fearful to say he loved her. Because those words slipping from his mouth associated with the loss of pride and downright humiliation.

"Okay," Soul stood up. He grabbed Maka's arm and urged her stand up as well. But she stayed put.

"No."

"Maka, _please_, get up."

"_No_."

"Get up. You need a band-aid for your knee."

"I need more than a band-aid to fix me up, Soul," She looked into his eyes seriously; her sobs and wails melted into enraged breathing. It felt better to be angry than miserable, so she decided to get angry. To get furious. To seethe with fury. She shouted, "What were you thinking that night? Why the _fuck_ did you think that was a good idea?"

Soul avoided her gaze again but that only awarded him with another shout from Maka, "Look at me. Look at my face. Look at my eyes. Look. Stop avoiding this. Because I've been doing that, too. But enough with that. We're here. We're talking. Now."

And so he looked at her. He stared her straight in the eye. He grabbed her shoulders, unintentionally shaking them as he said his next words, "Fine! You want to know why I kissed you that first time when you came home? Because I'm _fucking_ in love with you. Because you are the most perfectly flawed, most brave, most annoying, most amazing, most beautiful person I've ever met. And I love you. And you probably don't love me. So I didn't say it. I kissed you knowing that I was going to humiliated, embarrassed, and ashamed when you found out. And after we did _it_, I thought there was no way you… that you… ugh, and I thought I was going to say it and ruin everything."

While he ran his mouth, Maka couldn't believe what her brain was processing. She couldn't believe their feelings matched. And, most of all, she couldn't believe that the usually chill and relaxed Soul was the owner of these impassioned words. And they were about _her_. Her questions were answered, and though she still had not completely forgiven him for acting like an ass, she was in the mood to relieve him of the suspense in waiting for her reply.

She grasped his arm and pulled him down to her level on the ground. Her hands moved up to wrap around his neck, bring him into an embrace. Soul was still unsure of what his fate was until Maka placed her lips on his. The kiss wasn't long because Maka drew away to whisper something in his ear, "You're an idiot. And what you did was still dumb and stupid. But I'm in love with you, too. And I was nervous and embarrassed, too."

He leaned in to softly speak into her ear, "I'm sorry that I was uncool. And that I was an ass. I'm sorry that I was too proud to tell you anything. I regret not telling you after the first kiss. Would that have worked?"

She smiled, "It would've totally worked."

He grinned, "Damn. I really got to make it up to you." He pulled away from her ear and kissed her again. And again. And again. And they were lost in each other. Hands went where they pleased, and later, so did tongues.

After a few minutes, Maka pulled away and said, "No, but seriously, you can make it up to me by cooking dinner for the next week."

"Damn," Soul swore under his breath, but then shrugged. "I deserve it, though."

And then Maka said, "And Soul, you are the most awesome, cool, hot, caring, amazing guy that I've ever met. Never leave me like that again."

"I promise you I won't."

Back in the Gallows Mansion later that night, Liz was physically unable to wipe the gigantic, smug grin off her face when Maka texts her about how training went.

_**Author's Note**_

_**So it's done! Thank you to everyone who decided to favorite/follow/review the fic. I encourage you all do to so, especially review! Love getting them. I hope you liked it! I don't own Soul Eater, which should be obvious. Thank you!**_

_**-Zu**_


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